TCHQ Communications Marketing & PR

10/16/2026

After we moved offices, our own website kept listing the old address. For a while. Embarrassing? A little.

That's why we preach the website audit. Your site works around the clock, and it makes a first impression before anyone picks up the phone.

Broken links, slow pages, a clunky phone experience, missing SSL, stale branding. None of it announces itself. It just quietly costs you customers.

Audit once a year at minimum. Every six months if your market is competitive or you live on online leads.

Why do you need a website audit? Your website works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It builds credibility before you ever meet your customer.

10/15/2026

You've got about seven seconds.

That's how long a distracted person gives you before deciding whether to keep listening. Your title and your years in business won't buy you any extra time.

So we rebuilt the elevator pitch for 2026. Open with their problem. Paint the before and after. Close with a question instead of a hard sell.

We even walk through a landscaper named Maya who turns "I run a landscaping business" into a pitch people actually lean into.

With an elevator pitch, you have about 7 seconds. That’s it, according to attention research, a distracted human decides whether to keep listening or move on.

10/12/2026

Quick recap of what moved in social media last week (Oct 5-11):

Verified LinkedIn members reportedly get about 50% more post views. Meta is putting clickable links in organic Instagram posts behind paid tiers, starting at $49.99 a month, and some pages report a limit of two link posts a month. Instagram says originality and recency lead its ranking. TikTok now sees 1.7 billion comments a day and just added polls, voice comments, and photo carousel replies. And YouTube Shorts can now run as seasons and episodes.

The big takeaway: people reward content that feels original and invites conversation. How are you adjusting your posting plan? Tell us in the comments.

10/07/2026

Someone gave you their email address. That's a small act of trust.

What you send next decides whether they become a customer or an unsubscribe.

Our email marketing guide for small businesses covers how to turn that list into real sales without flooding anybody's inbox. Link's in the comments.

10/06/2026

SNL called Tom Holland's non-alcoholic b**r something we can't print here. 🍺

Bero's CEO could have gone quiet. Instead, he hopped on LinkedIn and corrected the record: "That's premium b*tch b**r Colin!!"

That's how you turn a roast into free national advertising.

Bero is three years old, sits in more than 4,000 stores, and does close to $10 million a year. Its biggest spotlight came from a joke at its expense. Plenty of brands would have hidden. Bero laughed along, and now a lot more people know the name.

Next time somebody pokes fun at your business, ask one question before you get defensive. Can I be in on this joke?

How a late-night scene became the kind of marketing moment “you can’t manufacture.”

10/06/2026

Ever watched a speaker open with a joke that died on arrival in front of the whole room?

Jay Sullivan wrote a smart piece for Inc. on using humor without torching your credibility. His best advice is to skip the canned jokes. Quick, relevant stories and off-the-cuff comments about the room land way better.

Go easy on the self-deprecation, too. One crack at yourself is charming, but three and people start wondering why they hired you.

Effective humor in presentations should be used sparingly and authentically to engage audiences while strengthening credibility.

10/05/2026

How many social platforms does a small business need? Probably fewer than you think.

The right answer depends on where your customers already spend their time, and how many hours you can realistically give each one. Spread thin across seven apps and you'll usually do all seven badly.

Our guide breaks down how to pick your platforms and how to win on each one. Link's in the comments.

10/05/2026

Quick recap of what ran on the social feeds last week:

• "Message From A": shady, funny notes about your own habits
• Ghost costume signs: Halloween hot takes on what to ditch
• Turning your mum into you: hundreds of millions of TikTok views
• Patient Zero wedding edits: 53K+ Reels and counting
• Autumn Colors: cozy fall Reels, 55K+ and growing

Fall, family, and a little nostalgia are doing the heavy lifting right now.

Have you tried any of these yet? Which one would you try first?

10/02/2026

Before you open an account on X, Bluesky, or Threads, do one thing first.

Search your competitors and your keywords on each platform. If nobody in your industry has posted there in the last seven days, that platform can wait.

Where the conversation is live, set it up right. A four-line bio, two or three admins, multi-factor authentication, and a plan for replies before you ever post.

Our professional setup guide covers all three. Link's in the comments.

09/30/2026

Instagram rewards businesses that can show what they do. Explaining only gets you so far.

Good news if you run a bakery, a salon, a contractor crew, or a nonprofit with a story to tell.

Start with the profile. Switch to a Business account, pick a category people actually search, and write a one-sentence bio with a clear next step.

Then build around three to five content pillars so you're never staring at a blank screen.

Our 2026 best practices guide has a two-week starter plan too. Link's in the comments.